Letters to the editor - Oct. 21, 2013

Sunday

Oct 20, 2013 at 11:17 PM

Consumers ultimately pay all taxes

Regarding the article "ACA will boost business," I am sometimes amazed that some people believe that taxes levied on companies and corporations are a way to return some of their exorbitant profits to the public. The Left has long used the need to raise corporate taxes as a device to convince the general public that they are for the little man and that business is bad. What they fail to mention is that we are probably going to eventually pick up the tab when the increased cost of doing business is passed on to us in higher prices.Ken O'Quinn, Castle Hayne

Abraham Lincoln said "A country divided against itself cannot stand." Today we have "A country divided against itself politically cannot stand." I read comments from several Tea Party members of Congress that the good of their constituents comes before the good of the country. We must stop the extremism at the voting booth or we could dump them in Boston Harbor.Charles Magure, Wilmington

Our 16-day national ordeal is over. ABC News and President Obama claim that it cost the economy $24 billion, or less than 0.1 percent of the 2013 GDP. Let's take a closer look at that figure. Included are:1. Wages of furloughed federal employees. Congress will pay these "lost" wages within weeks. Some also collected unemployment benefits which are supposed to be "returned" to the government. Some won't pay them back; a net boost to the economy.2. Lost revenues to businesses near national parks. Are we to believe that the money not spent was somehow vaporized out of people's wallets? It will certainly be spent in some way, to the benefit of the economy, somewhere. Some will win, and some will lose.3. $3.1 billion in lost government services. These must be the non-essential services not provided by the non-essential employees. I remain essentially unconvinced of the value of these "lost services." 4. The Washington, D.C., hospitality industry. It suffered a 7 percent decrease in restaurant traffic and an 8.3 percent decrease in hotel bookings. Apparently the lobbyists had to work on state legislators for a while, boosting revenues in Raleigh. Some may have skipped the meetings all together and gone to the bar. There was a 3 percent increase in D.C. restaurant liquor sales.A few more days would be a good thing.Tom Newcomb, Wilmington

Just so we're clear: 18 Republican Senators and 143 Republican Congressmen voted to default on our nation's debt for the first time in our nation's history.This was not a vote against new debt. It was a vote to NOT PAY debt Congress has already authorized.It was a vote to send the world economy into a tailspin, ending in a crash-and-burn, because the 10-year T-note, known as the world's safest investment, is the linchpin of the world economy.It was a vote against America and against humanity. It was treason.Fortunately, the rest of the Republican Senators and all Democratic Senators, and 87 Republicans and all 200 Democrats in the House, backed away from the brink ... until next year.The "Tea Party" is now the "Deadbeat Party." Or the "Party of Default." The Deadbeaters think they "fought the good fight," and see their colleagues who voted to reopen the government and honor our debt obligations as "RINOs." They might try it again.Y'all run on this platform next fall! You'll find out just how annoyed with you the rest of us are.Why did they take this course? They say it was to "defund Obamacare," which is based on "Romneycare," a market-based insurance scheme first proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Or do they just hate Obama because he's a ... (fill in the blank )? ...Michael Wolfe, Wilmington

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